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U.S. high court turns down Yakama tobacco, tax case

The Columbian
Published: March 11, 2015, 12:00am

YAKIMA — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a case over whether a Washington tribe’s treaty rights should exempt a tribal member’s cigarette business from paying state tobacco fees.

The Yakima Herald-Republic newspaper says the high court on Monday denied the Yakama Nation’s petition to review the case.

Last fall, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the tribe and King Mountain Tobacco, owned by a Yakama tribal member. The appellate court sided with the state of Washington, which argued the tribe’s treaty right doesn’t prevent the state from regulating tobacco products sold off-reservation.

King Mountain grows tobacco and manufactures cigarettes on the tribe’s reservation south of Yakima in south-central Washington.

Calls to the Yakama Nation Tribal Council and the company’s lawyer were not immediately returned.

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